A surprise Star Wars animated project is bringing back a fan-favorite character from the prequel era. During Star Wars Celebration, Dave Filoni announced Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi, which will be a 6-part animated short series coming to Disney+ this fall. The shorts will focus on Jedi that fans know and love, but at a different point in their lives than what’s been seen on-screen before. One of those Jedi which will be getting a fresh spotlight is Qui-Gon Jinn, an original character played by Liam Neeson in The Phantom Menace. Qui-Gon was one-and-done in the prequel trilogy, being killed by Darth Maul in the climax of Episode I. No one ever truly stays dead in the Star Wars world though, as one of the stories of Tales of the Jedi will feature Qui-Gon as a padawan learning from his master, Count Dooku.
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Even more exciting than Qui-Gon coming back to Star Wars is the confirmation that Neeson will be lending his voice to Tales of the Jedi. Neeson’s son will be voicing the younger version of Qui-Gon, which will more than likely take up the bulk of the episode, but Neeson coming back means there could be a narration component to the tale. Featuring Qui-Gon’s training under Count Dooku will fill in some of the blanks of both characters’ backstories, following up on the reveal in Attack of the Clones that Dooku trained Qui-Gon. During the Star Wars Celebration panel for Tales of the Jedi, Filoni spoke about how even though Dooku ultimately became a Sith Lord, his teaching shaped the Jedi Qui-Gon became:
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“Qui-Gon is one of the best and, in some ways, most interetsing Jedi, because of his philosophy, which is different from the Jedi Council. And where did he learn that, if not from his mentor, Count Dooku?”
Could Qui-Gon Return in Live-Action This Year As Well?
Tales of the Jedi won’t be the first time Neeson has played Qui-Gon since The Phantom Menace, and it may not be the last. Neeson has voiced the Jedi Master in a few episodes of The Clone Wars, along with being one of the Jedi that spoke to Rey towards the end of The Rise of Skywalker, but Neeson himself hasn’t appeared on-screen as Qui-Gon in more than 20 years. That could change in the near future, as the Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+ has featured a handful of references to Qui-Gon throughout its early episodes. Obi-Wan has been trying to communicate with the force ghost version of his master for a decade, but he has yet to make contact. Since it’s been brought up a couple of times, and Kenobi is ultimately serving as a follow-up to the prequel trilogy, a cameo from Neeson towards the end of the series is certainly not out of the question.
A release date has not yet been set for Tales of the Jedi, but it will be coming to Disney+ before the end of the year. It’s shaping up to be a busy next few months for Star Wars between the final episodes of Kenobi, the 12-episode debut season of Andor premiering August 31, and then Tales of the Jedi coming some time after that. That’s not to mention the second season of The Bad Batch, which is also eyeing a release window of fall 2022. After a spring and summer of live-action projects, the fall and winter months will be filled with a variety of animated Star Wars content for fans to enjoy.
